Gilroy family dies in Bakersfield plane crash

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office has identified a Gilroy family killed in a plane crash near Bakersfield on Saturday.

Jason Price, 42, was piloting the plane carrying Olga Price, 40, John Price, 14, Mary Price, 10, and Olivia Price, 9, that crashed in an almond orchard near Panama and South Allen lanes in unincorporated Kern County, sheriff’s officials said Tuesday.

The single-engine Piper PA-32RT had departed from Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose and went off radar near Bakersfield around 4 p.m.

Saturday, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said.

Deputies were notified of the crash shortly before 4:30 p.m. and found the plane in a roughly quarter-mile-long debris field about three hours later, sheriff’s officials said.

The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating the crash, Gregor said.

The NTSB expects to issue a preliminary report on the crash sometime next week, agency spokesman Eric Weiss said.

Two of the children attended Luigi Aprea Elementary School in Gilroy, Gilroy Unified School District spokeswoman Rachel Zlotziver said.

Jason Price was a principal reliability engineer at GenesisSolutions, a company based in Ridgefield, Connecticut, that provides support for asset intensive companies, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Company officials said in a statement:

“On behalf of GenesisSolutions and its employees, we express our deepest sympathy and condolences for Jason Price and his family. … Jason was an associate of our organization and a valued and loved team member, friend, and contributor to our customers and the maintenance and reliability professionals we serve. We are mourning this tragic loss.”